Fund delay hits biometric attendance for teachers

According to School Education Department officials, the project will only be carried out in a phased manner as there is no mention about the allocation of funds in the State budget, which was tabled in the Assembly on Friday. 

A senior official told DT Next that the bio-metric attendance project will be implemented gradually depending on the State’s financial situation. Around 55,000 government schools are functioning in Tamil Nadu, with a teacher strength of 2.6 lakh. 

The bio-metric attendance system was first introduced in select schools in Perambalur district on a pilot basis last year. It was also implemented in a couple of schools in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts. Only a few government schools in the city have bio-metric machines at present. 

According to the official, the government had earlier planned to install the bio-metric machines in all the schools by this academic year itself. “During the first phase, it was planned to set up the machines in around 7,000 schools across the State. However, the tender has not been floated till now to procure the machine since the funds were not allocated immediately,” he added. 

The official said the cost of each bio-metric attendance device ranges between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 and the project will in total cost the exchequer around Rs 16.5 crore. 

Asserting that the project will not be stalled, the official said it will be implemented in phased manner based on the allocation of funds. He pointed out that the government’s top priority lies on implementing the smart card project at the beginning of next academic year to ensure that all the students are benefited from it.